Method of knitting ribbed-fabric sections.



R. w. scum. METHOD OF KNITTING RIBBED FABRIC SECTIONS.

APPLICATIONflLl-ID fun? 23.1914.-

- Patented July 25, 1916.

" one-half inch intervenesbetween the slack outrun snares Pe -rear ROBERT W. SCOTT, OF BOSTON Q MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T0 SCOTT & WILLIAMS, v

INCORPORATED, 0F CAMDEN, NEVJ JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD OF KNITTING RIBBEDeFABBIC SECTIONS.

Original application filed December 21, 1911, Serial No. 66732 23, 1914. Serial No. 852,606.

- The objectof my invention is to improvethe making of sections of ribbed fabric forming parts of articles partly ribbed and partly plain. Heretofore in the manufacture of such parts, such. as ribbed tops forhalf hose or the; ribbed portion of footed ribbed hose, it has always been the practice to knit a tube or flat blank of. continuous lengths with welt portions and slack courses formed at suitable intervals, the fabric then being separated into lengths by severing it close to the welt and between the welt and the slack course portion. Usually a space of about course and the welt, which portion, after the fabric is severed, is used by the operator to facilitate the placing of. the stitcies upon the needles of the footing machine or upon the impaling points of a transfer ring. These surplus courses are then raveled away, butwhen the fabric is severed as described, the raw edge left is difficult to ravel and loss of time results.

The practice of my new method comprises thc'forniation of'a free raveling edge for each piece, each piece being pressed or cast off separately from the needles of the 1nachine, so that the loops of a terminal course of the superfluous 'or waste fabric beyond the loose course are free loops, and raveling will start upon pulling the exposed endof the yarn pf the last course.

When the ordinary practice is followed, as above ,d'escribed, the weltcd or finished end of the ribbed fabric is left with each terminal stitch or loop carrying short piecesfof yarn, presenting a ragged and unfinished appc'arance at the juncture of the weltand the body of the piece. Moreover, it is impossible to sever the fabric near the welt in one and v the same course, so that leaving part of the previous fabric attached to the welt can not be avoided by mere skill.

One object of my invention is to avoid this defect in the product.

In my copending application, filed Des Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J uly 25, 1316..

Divided and this application filed July cember 21, 1911, Serial Number 667,224 (Letters Patent No. 1,114,539 dated October 20, 1914) of which this application is a division, I have described a rib knitting machine provided with webholding members for acting upon the fabric, in order to enable the machine to be employed for the manufacture of discontinuous sections of. fabric. The

method or art about to be described'may conveniently be practised with the aid of a 1 machine such as that described and claimed in my said parentapplication.

In the accompanying drawings, Figurel is a diagram elevationof a fabric section which is ,a typical product of myprocess; Fig. 2 is a diagram diametrical section of a knitting machine such as that disclosed in my said application, illustrating the arrangement of the yarn with respect to the instruments of the machine at the initial course; Fig. 3 is a similar view illustrating the fabric and the machine instruments during the formation of the welt; Fig. 4 is a similar .view illustrating the-fabric at the moment of being cast from'the machine instruments at the end of the section; Fig. 5 is a diagram section of the fabric of Fig. 1.

The article of manufacture produced typically comprises a fast end finishmade as a turned welt or hem. "W which may be very short to constitute a mere selvage, of intermediate length, or comparatively long, as shown for instance in Figs. 1 and 5. Such a welt will comprise an extent of plain fabric knit upon the needles of one carrier of the machine, integrally united at both ends to a body of ribbed fabric of any order of rib It which section B comprises intermediate of its ends and usually near the end opposite to the welt a loose course C followed by a terminal sectionof waste fabric cis Suoh a product constitutes the article of commerce known as a ribbed top, or ribbed leg, depending upon the length of the section R and its intended use.

The entire fabric may be raveled in the direction of the arrow 1" of Fig. l by removing in an order opposite to that in wiich they were formed, each loop of the terminal course of the section d, and each loop of each preceding course.

In'normal use the course C is impaled loop by loop upon the points of a t 'ansfer implement, or the needles of a second machine, and

the section (Z is then raveled by pulling on;

the yarn of the terminal course until the course C is reached, which Wlll not raveI because of the presence in its loops of said instruments. In the case of imperfect fabricsteps of'xnanufacture by removing by handsuch irregular and severed loops as may .occur at the terminal end of the section d, and may he produced by hand with respect to the welt W by removingtherefromall parts of the previous course connected thereto, although I am not aware of any hand manufacture finished to thisextent.

In order to produce as a;machine manu-i facture a ribbed top finished in; the above particulars, 1 proceed as follows; I have selected for illustrative purposes in order to explain thesteps of mymethod a machine of the stationary needle-cylinder type comprising a bed-plate 1,a drive-ring 2, carry:

ing a cam-ring 3 for the actuation ofgthe cylinder needles m, which are carried in a cylinder or carrier 5 concentric. with a relatively stationary needle dial 7, in radial grooves of which, the dial needles y are placed for. actuation by-Jthe cam-cap 8. As-

, sumingthe needles w and g tobe empty of 1 previous yarns, as shown in Fig. 4, I proceed to form the first or setting-up course w for thewelt by opening-the latches of both sets of needlesby any usual implement, and

. advancing them to take a yarn now supplied sis to them in common, the said yarn extending from the hook of a cylinder needle to the hook of a dial needle, then to the hook of a cylinder needle, and so on. By preference, at this point the draft given "the cylinder needles w isles s'than that used forrib knitting, so that the setting-up course w-will be of about the samelength of loop as a normal knit course. After one or more revolutions when each needle has at least one loop or bight of yarn in its'hook, the dial needles 7 are drawn downward to the position illustrated in Fig. 2, which position they retain during the knitting of' the fabric for the Welt W upon the cylinder needless: only. In order to enable this operation themachine illustrated is equippedwith webholders 6, such as those described and claimed in my said application, having beveled surfaces 31-, and a downward pointing horn 16, in such relation to the cylinder needles as to cause the bight of yarn lying betwcep two cylinder needles to be thrown inwardly by the surface 31 to take beneath the horn 16 upon the upward movement of the web-holders 6 and to be retained be- 7 neath the horn 16. during the advance of the cylinder needles m to clear its latch to take a new loop. Several courses (depending upon the number required in the welt) are now formed in this manner upon the cylinder needles only, the dial needles are then returned to active position, that is to say, so that their hooked ends receive the yarn from the cylinder needles, and normal operation of the machine proceeds to produce ordinary ribbed fabric. e I a v It has heretofore been thought necessary to maintain a longitudinal stress upon the fabric throughout the operation, which longitudinal stress necessitated a continuous length of fabric long enough to reach a web take-up device of some form. As I have explained in my said parent application ll have, inorder'toprovide one form of instrulnent for practising the steps of the method, herein described; avoidedthe necessity of maintaininga continuous.1ongitudinal'str'ain by utilizing'thebehavior of the surface of the parts .31 and 16, of the webholders 6, tomaintain the stress ofthe yarn with respect to the hooks of the cylinder needles and the dial needles, and thus to avoid strain transmitted through the pre- ;viously formed fabric. The said webholders 6 are raised at a point somewhat in advance of the rising phasetof the move ment given the cylinder needles m thus causing the horn 16 on each, web-holder to be forced past theyarn carried in the hooks of thedial needles, so that said horn is brought above the yarn, then slightlylowered so that the lower face of the horn 16 is partly in contact with the yarn and then held in this position during the operation of the cylinder .and dial needles to clear their: loops back .oftheir latches and receive new yarn for a .new course of rib fabric from the yarn car,-

rier. The cylinder needles are first retracted to place. a bight of the new yarn within the hooks oft-he dial needles, and at the same time the old loop on the cylinder-needle is knocked ovcr the new. yarn in the-hook of said cylinder needle. The dial needle is now correspondingly retracted sothat the old loop upon it is broughtinto position for being cast over the new yarn in'its hook, and at 1 this juncture the web-holders are depressed to act'upon' the old loop on each side of'the dial needle to effectually cast it over the new loop. At the next revolution 'of the machine the loop previously acted upon by the web-holders has become a sinker wale of the ribbed fabric, and at each revolution these sinker wales are so acted upon by the horns of the web-holders that.

' the needles a: during production of the welt fabric will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 3, the rising movement of the web-holders serving to pass the horn 16 over the lyarn extending between two adjacent cyi loops of the cylinder-needles following said cylinder needles when they are subsequently advanced to clear their latches. Having formed the setting-up course as described,

having then knit a sufficient extent of welt "fabric, and havmg'thereafter knlt a sulii-' .cient amount of -f2lb116 to form the ribbed top or ribbed leg, the needles of one or both carriers are operated to form the loose course C n the well known manner, winch may comprise-giying the needles in one or both carriers an extra. draft, or separatlng the carriers themselves, or lifting one or bothsets of needles from their grooves; and

the machine is thereafter operated to makerib .t'abric similar to that for the section R for the waste sectlon d. The fabricls now castfrom the needles, for instance by pro- Jecting and retracting the needles at a point remote from the yarn guide, in order to clear the latches of both sets and retract the needlcs empty, producing the condition illus trated in Fig. 4. The finished product now trated in said figure. The'yarn m will now extend from the last loop knit to the yarn guide. While I may include sevcringthe yarn at thestage in the operation indicated by l*ig. 4, [prefer to leave the sections conncctcd by the easily broken yarn m. The yarn or yarns connecting adjacent sections may be broken, cut or otherwise severed as a i manual operation, enough of the yarn in being lci't attached to-cach section to be picked up and pullcd by hand by the opmator. The remaining steps comprisc impaling the loops of the course on the transfer implemcnt or the nccdlcs ot' anothcr machine, and lhcrcal'icr pulling upon the yarn m. to dcstroy thc scction (I, and thcrcai'tcr knitting thc rcmaindcr of the. article.

ilhilc l have illustratcd a circular ma chinc it will bc obvious that my m cthod is indopcndcnl oi" any particular machinc. and cqually applicablc to flat-blank ribbed tops of legs having wclt, loosc course, and rarcl scctions, in which case the iustrumcnt ot' rnainil'acture may be a straight machinc. The procedure ordinarily will include again introducing the yarn to the nccdlcs as above dcscribcd to form a new setting-up course In and thcrcaftcr repealing all of the opera tions in the samc ordcr, to form a succession of tops or legs disconnected except by the BE run of yarn m.

nder" needles 0: to prevent the said sections being What I claim is: 1. The art of knitting sections of ribbed fabric comprising first forming on a suitable series of instruments free of previous fabric a plain fabricwelt, then knitting in continuation thereof an extent of ribbed fabric and then 'casting' ofi" the completed section, whereby said end fini'sh is free from parts of previous fabrics and said section terminates in a free raveling course. I

2. The art of knitting sections of ribbed fabric for use in articlesto be completed lay another knitting operation comprising first forming upon suitable series ofinstruments free of previous fabric. a turned welt constituting a fast end-finish, then knitting an extent of fabric in continuation thereof, and then casting oil of said instruments the terminal course of the completed section whereby said section ends'in a course of loops free to be raveled back to a course to be engaged byfa-bric begun'thereat.

3. The art of knitting fabrics comprising the following steps: firstforming a welt, thereafter knitting in continuation of said wel. ribbed fabric, and thereafter casting off from't-he instrument or instruments of manufacture the last knit course,"a nd thereafter repeating said operations whereby .to form aplurality ofse'parate sections of ribbed fabric each comprising a' welt at one end and a free raveling' course at the other end, connected by a run or runs or" unknit yarn.

4. The art of knitting fabrics comprisingthe following steps: firsttorming a welt,

thereafter knitting in continuation of said welt ribbed fabric, and thereafter casting off from the instrument or instruments of manufacture the last knit course whereby a section of ribbed fabric comprising a welt at one end and a tree raveling course at the other end is formed, and thercaftcr knitting an artioic having an initial course engaged with a course of said section between its cnds and rai'clin g the fabric bctwccu said last knit course and said intermediatecoursc.

The art of knitting fabric comprising first knitting a lastcnd finish. thcu knitting ribbcd fabric. and then casting oil' olt'the instrumcnt 'or' instrumcnts ot' n'unuilm'ture' the last knit or tcrminal coursc. whcrcby a scclion of ribbed l'abric charm'lcrizcd by a fast cuddinish at onc'cnd and a l'rcc ra\'cling course at thc othcr cud is tormcd, and thcrcaltcr knitting fabric in continuation of a course-intcrmcdi'atc of said ribbcd scctiou,

said last-mentioned operation including ra\' cling that portion of said ribbcd sort-ion bctwccn sa'id tcrminal coursc and said iutcrmcdiatc roam-.

(l. The artY of knitting scctions of rihbcd. labric having an einl-lin-ish at our cnd and a waste section at the other cud, comprising firstforming a setting-up course upon a series of instruments bareof previous fabric, for a first section, thereafter forming fabric for a welt erselvage, thereafter knitting ribbed fabric while maintaining tension'upon the *arn of courses previous to v series of instruments, then ravellng the terthe course being knit, thereafter casting the tern'iinal course from' the instruments, and thereafter repeating said operations for another section connected to said first section by a run of yarn, and then severing said run ot yarn between said sections.

"'2'. The "art of knitting fabrics having transferred previously knit sections comprisingthe following steps; first knitting with the aid of a suitable series of instruments-asection of fabric having a fast end finish at its beginning edge,. then casting from said instruments all theterminal loops of said section, whereby said terminal loops are in condition to ravel; thereafter applying the loops of a course between the beginning and end of said section to another lninal part of'said fabric as far as said. applied loops, and thereafter knitting attached-fabric.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ROBERT W, SCOTT.

.Witnesses: I

Mmaomn H. SHELDON, MARY F" GRIFFIN. 

